Alton On The Spot puts you on the spot, with what's hot and what's not in the wonderful world of art and creativity. From the galleries and the museums, the runways and the airwaves, the streets and the stages - I seek the beauty of inspiration, high and low, anywhere and everywhere I can find it.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Pistol Packing Artists Alton DuLaney is "amused" on Fussion.net

University of Houston removes student’s gun art project—just weeks before campus carry law goes into effect

ART Gun by Alton DuLaney at center of Texas controversy. 2016.

The University of Houston has removed a student artist’s project
that shows a real gun shooting a banner that says “art”—just weeks
before Texas’ new concealed-campus-carry law goes into effect.The Daily Cougar reports that first-year MFA student Alton DuLaney created the piece to make a direct statement on the law, which was passed last summer.

He then directly contacted the University’s police about whether his
piece would be allowed; the police forwarded his inquiry to school
administrators. Eventually, the Office of the General Counsel released
the following statement:

“Under current Texas state law, firearms are forbidden on campus. The
fact that they may be exhibited as part of an arts exhibition doesn’t
change the analysis.”

In an email, the Cougar said, the school’s chief of police added, “No
guns are currently allowed on campus. We do not censor art.”

“There’s an obvious implication of power that this thing has, that
this inanimate object has when combined with ammunition and intent to
create damage,” DuLaney told Houston Press. “So I wanted to create a piece that said all of that, but that was diffused by being cloaked in a statement of art.”
Nine states now have concealed campus carry laws.

“I was hoping my alterations of this piece would transform it and it
would be seen strictly as an art piece and then we could be having this
conversation,” DuLaney told ABC13.
“The authorities here on campus felt otherwise. They felt it was still a
weapon, even though it had been altered, and couldn’t be included.”